Internet disrupted in Bihar, India, amid military recruitment protests

Posted on

NetBlocks metrics confirm a significant disruption to internet connectivity on multiple providers in Bihar, eastern India from Friday 17 June 2022 until Tuesday 21 June. The incident came as the government imposed telecommunications restrictions to counter protests over a new military recruitment plan.

The Agnipath recruitment scheme for soldiers in India’s Army, Navy and Air Force, has been fiercely contested by the political opposition, with protesters amassing throughout the state.

Real-time network data show the telecommunications restrictions coming into effect across multiple providers in Bihar in a pattern consistent with an intentional disruption to service, corroborating user reports of outages in multiple cities in the state.

The incident has high observable impact, and affects both fixed-line and mobile connectivity, although a total blackout is not evident at the time of writing. India frequently implements localised internet disruptions, although such widespread information blackouts are rare.

A government-issued order to internet providers in Bihar dated 17 June 2022 demands that the companies restrict access to a lengthy list of online services to prevent the transmission of “objectionable content in order to spread rumour at large with a view to inciting [the] public and cause damage to live and property and disturb peace and tranquility.”

NetBlocks recommends against the use of network disruptions and social media restrictions to counter protests, given their disproportionate impact to fundamental rights including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

Previously:

Methodology

NetBlocks diffscans, which map the IP address space of a country in real time, show internet connectivity levels and corresponding outages. Purposeful internet outages may have a distinct network pattern used by NetBlocks to determine and attribute the root cause of an outage, a process known as attribution which follows detection and classification stages.

NetBlocks is an internet monitor working at the intersection of digital rights, cyber-security and internet governance. Independent and non-partisan, NetBlocks strives to deliver a fair and inclusive digital future for all.

[ press | contact ] Graphics and visualizations are provided for fair use in unaltered form reflecting the meaning and intent in which they were published, with clear credit and source attribution to NetBlocks. Intellectual property rights are protected including but not limited to key findings, facts and figures, trademarks, copyrights, and original reporting, are held by NetBlocks. Citation and source attribution are required at the point of use.